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NUMISMATIC  NOTES<^>^% 

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OCTOBOLS  OF  HISTIAEA 

By  EDWARD  T.  NEWELL 


THE  AMERICAN  NUMISMATIC  SOCIETY 
BROADWAY  AT  156th  STREET 
NEW  YORK 
1921 


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NUMISMATIC 

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NOTES  & MONOGRAPHS 


Numismatic  Notes  and  Monographs  is 
devoted  to  essays  and  treatises  on  subjects 
relating  to  coins,  paper  money,  medals  and 
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Notes  and  Monographs  published  by  the 
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Octobol  of  Histiaea 
Cabinet  of  the  Author 
Unretouched  Enlargement 


No  longer  the  property  ol 

np  h 0 p ! j ; ' * 

Mount  Holyoke  Qi  1‘eye 

THE  OCTOBOLS 
OF  HIST  IAEA 


BY 

EDWARD  T.  NEWELL 


THE  AMERICAN  NUMISMATIC  SOCIETY 
BROADWAY  AT  156th  STREET 
NEW  YORK 
1921 


COPYRIGHT  1921  P,Y 

THE  AMERICAN  NUMISMATIC  SOCIETY 


Press  of  T.  R.  Marvin  & Son,  Boston 


THE  GETTY  CENTER 
LIBRARY 


v 

THE 

OCTOBOLS  OF  HISTIAEA 

By  Edward  T.  Newell 

A rather  unexpected  combination  of 
circumstances  has  recently  led  the  writer 
to  investigate  a well-known  group  of  coins 
struck  in  the  Euboean  city  of  Histiaea. 
The  results  of  this  study  strongly  empha- 
size a necessary  alteration  in  the  dates 
which  have  been  generally  assigned  to  cer- 
tain of  these  pieces,  thereby  throwing  into 
considerable  relief  the  causes  leading  to 
the  introduction  of  the  series  in  question. 

In  April  of  1920,  during  an  all  too  short 
sojourn  in  Athens,  the  writer  experienced 
the  unusual  fortune  of  securing  a very  fine 
specimen  of  the  well  known  octobol  of 
Histiaea.  The  raison  d’etre  for  the  pres- 
ent article  partly  hinges  on  the  fact  that 

this  new  example  chances  to  be  in  a far 

' 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

1 

2 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

better  state  of  preservation  than  the  only 
other  known  specimen.  The  latter  piece, 
until  now  unique,  was  originally  owned  by 
P.  Lambros  of  Athens  and  was  for  the  first 
time  published  by  S.  Komnos  in  the  Revue 
Numismatique,  1865,  pi.  vii,  No.  10.  It 
was  later  republished  by  R.  Weil  in  the 
Zeitschrift  fur  Numismatik,  vol.  I,  1874, 
pp.  186-7.  Eventually  the  coin  passed  to 
Photiades  Pasha,  and  at  the  dispersal  of 
his  collection  was  bought  for  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale  where  it  now  reposes. 
This  particular  specimen,  once  more  de- 
scribed by  M.  Babelon  in  his  Traite  2, 
Vol.  Ill,  No.  201,  pi.  cxcviii,  fig.  27, 
weighs  5.75  grammes  and  is  therefore  an 
octobol  of  the  Attic  system.  Thanks  to 
the  kindness  of  M.  Babelon  this  coin  is 
herewith  reproduced  on  Plate  I,  No.  2. 

The  new  example  (Plate  I,  No.  3)  of 
the  Histiaean  octobol  is  in  most  respects 
identical  with  the  Paris  specimen,  both 
having  been  struck  apparently  from  the 
same  pair  of  dies.  The  writer’s  coin, 
however,  weighs  5.59  grammes  and  is,  as 
stated  above,  somewhat  better  preserved.1 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES’ 

HISTI AEA 

3 

The  delight  experienced  at  the  unex- 
pected acquisition  of  so  rare  a piece  was 
but  further  increased  by  the  opportunity 
now  presented  of  deciphering  an  inscrip- 
tion engraved  in  minute  letters  on  the 
cross-bar  of  the  stylis  held  in  the  Nymph’s 
hand.  This  inscription  apparently  com- 
mences with  the  three  letters  A 0 A,  en- 
graved on  the  left  hand  portion  of  the 
cross-bar.  There  are  distinct  traces  of 
two  more  letters  on  the  right  hand  por- 
tion, but  these  unfortunately  are  indeciph- 
erable. A careful  inspection  of  the  Paris 
specimen,  on  which  the  first  three  letters 
chance  to  be  obliterated  but  the  last  two 
rather  more  distinct,  would  suggest  — in 
view  of  the  probabilities  of  the  case — that 
these  two  remaining  letters  should  perhaps 
be  read  N A.  Thus  by  means  of  the  new 
specimen  M.  Svoronos’  insistence  {Jour. 
Int.  d’Arch.  et  Num.,  1914,  vol.  XVI,  p. 
91)  that  the  cross-bar  of  the  stylis  on  the 
coins  of  Histiaea  once  bore  an  inscription, 
is  now  fully  corroborated.  We  will  later 
have  occasion  to  return  to  this  inscription 
and  its  probable  significance. 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

4 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

It  so  happened  that  but  a few  days  pre- 
vious to  the  fortunate  discovery  of  the 
Histiaean  octobol,  the  writer  was  engaged 
in  studying  a most  interesting  little  hoard 
of  Fourth  Century  coins,  now  preserved 
in  the  National  Collection  -at  Athens. 
This  hoard  contains  tetradrachms  of  Philip 
II  and  Alexander  the  Great,  a drachm  of 
Larissa  (400-344  B.  C.),  two  hemidrachms 
of  Locri  Opuntii,  a drachm  of  Boeotia,  a 
drachm  and  five  hemidrachms  of  Sicyon, 
and  a tetrobol  of  Histisea  — a total  of 
thirty  five  coins.  The  find  was  recently 
made  in  the  course  of  some  work  being 
carried  on  near  the  mole  or  jetty  at  Kypa- 
rissia  in  the  Peloponnese.  The  coins  them- 
selves are  rather  heavily  coated  with  oxide, 
but  their  original  condition  appears  to 
have  been  very  good.  The  hoard  presents 
at  least  two  points  of  unusual  interest.  In 
the  first  place  it  antedates  by  some  five  or 
six  years  the  earliest  known  deposit  of 
Alexander  coins  — the  famous  gold  hoards 
of  Saida  — whose  probable  date  of  inter- 
ment was  about  the  year  322-321  B.  C. 
The  second  point  of  interest  lies  in  the 

1 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AEA 

■f 

5 

fact  that  the  tetrobol  of  Histiaea  belongs 
to  the  seated  Nymph  type,  a type  that  R. 
Weil  (Z. /.  N.,  1874,  p.  183  ff)  considers 
to  have  been  first  introduced  in  312  B.  C., 
and  possibly  as  late  as  290-289  B.  C. 
In  this  he  has  been  followed  by  Head  in 
the  British  Museum  Catalogue,  Central 
Greece , where  the  coins  in  question  are 
placed  after  312  B.  C.  Both  the  Historia 
Numorum  and  M.  Babelon  in  his  Traite 
des  Monnaies  grecques  et  romaines  endorse 
this  assignment.  Needless  to  say,  the 
specimen  in  the  Kyparissia  Find  belongs 
to  what  all  these  authorities  recognize  as 
the  first  group  of  the  series,  characterized 
by  full  weight  and  very  fine  style.  Simi- 
lar specimens  are  reproduced  on  PI.  xxiv, 
figs.  6 and  7 of  the  British  Museum  Cata- 
logue, PI.  cxcviii,  fig.  28  of  the  Traite , and 
PI.  I,  No.  4 of  the  present  article.  Now 
the  dating  of  our  hoard  rests  entirely  upon 
the  Alexander  tetradrachms,  and  for  the 
following  reasons.  The  tetradrachms  of 
Philip  II  which  it  contained,  were  all 
struck  previous  to  336  B.  C.,  as  none  of 
them  belong  to  that  large  category  known 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

. 

OCTOBOLS  OF 


to  have  been  issued  for  many  years  after 
that  monarch’s  death.  The  drachm  of 
Larissa  certainly  precedes  344  B:  C. ; the 
hemi drachms  of  theOpuntian  Locrians  pre- 
cede 338  B.  C. ; the  Theban  drachm  is  not 
later  than  395  B.  C. ; the  Sicyonian  drachm 
and  hemidrachms  have  been  assigned  by 
M.  Babelon  to  the  period  between  400 
and  300  B.  C.,  and  by  Head  previous  to 
323  B.  C.,  but  the  Kyparissia  specimens 
are  of  rather  early  style.  The  Alexander 
tetradrachms  contained  in  this  hoard  are 
the  issues  of  three  mints  only,  Amphipo- 
lis,  Tarsus,  and  Ake.  The  Amphipolitan 
varieties  are  types  Nos.  1,  3,  4,  5,  6,  10, 
13,  19  and  25  of  the  writer’s  Reattribution 
of  Certain  Tetradrachms  of  Alexander  the 
Great  in  the  American  Journal  of  Numis- 
matics for  1911.  According  to  the  writ- 
er’s more  recent  studies,  these  types  are 
among  the  earliest  issues  of  that  mint  and 
should  be  dated  not  later  than  328  or 
327  B.  C. 

The  varieties  attributable  to  Tarsus  cor- 
respond to  Nos.  1,  3?  4 an(i  10  of  the  writ- 
er’s Tar sos  under  Alexander  in  the  Ameri- 


(NUMISMATIC  NOTES 


HI  ST IAEA 

7 

can  Journal  of  Numismatics,  Vol.  LI I, 
1918,  where  these  particular  varieties  are 
assigned  to  the  period  comprised  between 
333  and  328  B.  C.  Finally,  the  sole  repre- 
sentative of  the  Ake  mint  corresponds  to 
No.  2 of  the  writer’s  The  Dated  Alexander 
Coinage  of  Sidon  and  Ake,  where  its  date 
has  been  shown  to  be  332-330  B . C.  Thus, 
we  find  a difference  of  some  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years,  at  least,  between  the  latest 
Alexander  tetradrachms  of  the  Kyparissia 
Hoard  and  the  earliest  date  (3 13-3 12  B.  C.) 
assigned  by  the  leading  authorities  to  the 
first  appearance  of  the  Histisean  tetrobols 
with  the  seated  Nymph  for  their  reverse 
type.  The  presence2  in  the  hoard  of  a 
similar  tetrobol  is  therefore  sufficiently 
disturbing  to  call  for  an  investigation  of 
its  hitherto  accepted  dating. 

Even  a superficial  study  of  all  the  His- 
tiaean  tetrobols  with  the  seated  Nymph 
type  soon  reveals  the  fact  that  those  of 
the  finest  style,  as  represented  by  No.  4 
on  Plate  I,  stand  quite  apart  from  the  re- 
mainder of  the  series.  Plate  II,  Nos.  1-5, 
give  some  typical  examples  of  the  later 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

8 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

issues.  Except  for  their  types,  there  is 
nothing  in  common  between  the  two 
groups.  No  artistic  or  technical  continu- 
ity is  here  apparent.  Indeed,  at  first 
glance,  one  would  suppose  them  to  have 
been  separated  by  an  interval  of  at  least 
fifty  or  more  years,  as  in  fact  they  are. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  these 
later  issues  really  do  belong  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  third  century,  B.  C., 
but  one  feels  an  instinctive  reluctance 
towards  placing  those  of  the  finest  style 
(PI.  I,  4)  along  with  them.  Their  artistic 
merit  and  the  fine  technique  of  their  en- 
graving is  far  superior  to  the  usual  numis- 
matic productions  of  Greece  towards-  the 
very  end  of  the  fourth  century  and  later. 
The  appearance  at  this  time  of  the  beau- 
tiful tetrobol  and  its  accompanying  octo- 
bol  would  be  very  extraordinary. 

The  question  was  finally  settled  in  the 
writer’s  own  mind,  by  the  acquisition  in 
Geneva  of  an  almost  uncirculated  speci- 
men of  the  first  issue  of  Histiaea,  the  Eu- 
boeic  drachm  with  the  reverse  type  of  the 
j cow  and  vine.  This  piece,  formerly  in 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTIAEA 

9 

the  collection  of  the  late  Dr.  Pozzi  of 
Paris,  is  here  reproduced  Plate  I,  No.  I. 
The  series  to  which  this  coin  belongs  has 
been  assigned  by  all  scholars  since  Weil 
to  the  years  369-338  B.  C.  A comparison 
between  the  obverse  of  this  drachm  and 
that  of  the  octobol  (Plate  I,  No.  3)  reveals 
at  once  a striking  similarity,  one  should 
say  identity,  of  style  and  execution. 
Every  artistic  criterion  would  cause  one 
to  suppose  that  their  respective  obverse 
dies  had  been  cut  by  one  and  the  same 
hand.  The  details  of  treatment  to  be 
seen  in  the  eye,  the  mouth,  the  nose  and 
profile,  as  well  as  the  similarity  of  the 
planes  throughout,  certainly  reveal  the 
handiwork  of  a single  die-cutter.  Even 
if  we  should  set  aside  this  apparently  self- 
evident  fact  as  impossible  of  definite  proof, 
the  style  of  the  two  coins*  is  yet  far  too 
close  to  allow  us  to  believe  that  some 
twenty  six  years  (to  take  the  smallest 
limit  allowed  us  by  our  authorities,  that 
is,  between  338  and  312  B.  C.)  could  have 
elapsed  between  the  striking  of  the  two 
coins.  If  not  actually  contemporaneous, 

| 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

IO 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

they  must  have  followed,  the  one  upon  the 
other,  with  but  a very  small  intervening 
time.  In  other  words,  a consideration  of 
style  alone  apparently  forces  us  to  assign 
the  little  group  of  Histiasan  octobols  and 
tetrobols,  of  fine  style  and  with  the  seated 
Nymph  reverse,  to  a period  preceding  the 
year  338  B.  C.,  at  which  date  the  island 
of  Euboea  finally  fell  into  Philip’s  power 
and  all  local  coinage  ceased.  Such  an 
assignment,  forcibly  suggested  by  a close 
consideration  of  the  coins  themselves,  is 
proved  by  the  contents  of  the  Kyparissia 
Hoard.  The  well  nigh  impossible  propo- 
sition that  this  find,  or  for  that  matter 
any  other  find,  could  contain  a coin  sup- 
posedly struck  more  than  fourteen  years 
later  than  any  one  of  its  companion  pieces 
in  the  hoard  is  thus  avoided.  The  result 
is  that  our  Euboeic  drachms  with  the  cow 
and  vine  reverse,  as  well  as  the  attic  octo- 
bols and  the  earliest  group  of  the  corre- 
sponding tetrobols  with  the  seated  Nymph 
reverse,  must  both  be  assigned  to  the 
period  between  369  and  338  B.  C.  The 
problem  now  is,  at  just  what  time, 

1 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTIAEA 

n 

within  the  limits  of  this  period,  did  the 
change  in  type  and  weight  take  place  ? 

It  chances  that  we  have  been  given  a 
fairly  clear  insight  by  Demosthenes,  and 
other  writers,  of  the  events  which  occurred 
in  Histisea3  at  the  period  when  Philip  and 
Athens  were  rapidly  drifting  into  their 
final  struggle.  For  some  years  the  Mace- 
donian king  had  held  secure  possession  of 
the  Thessalian  mainland  lying  immedi- 
ately opposite  Histiaea.  The  inhabitants 
of  Oreus,  as  Histisea  is  usually  called  by 
the  Attic  writers,  had  long  been  divided 
into  two  bitterly  opposed  factions . F inally , 
a certain  Philistides,  an  ardent  philippiser, 
gained  the  ascendancy  with  Macedonian 
help,  and  Euphraeus,  the  leader  of  the 
opposing  or  Athenian  faction,  was  seized 
and  cast  into  prison  where  he  shortly 
afterwards  committed  suicide.  To  make 
his  success  assured,  Philistides  secured 
from  the  mainland  a contingent  of  Mace- 
donian soldiers  and,  with  their  aid,  he  was 
able  to  maintain  his  position  as  tyrant  of 
Histisea  and  the  representative  of  Philip 
in  this  portion  of  Euboea.  But  soon  the 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

12 


OCTOBOLS 


OF 


fiery  eloquence  of  Demosthenes,  his  patri- 
otic pleading,  his  denunciation  of  Philip’s 
policy  which  very  evidently  threatened 
the  power  and  even  the  existence  of 
Athens,  gained  the  ascendancy  in  the  As- 
sembly. At  his  instigation  certain  envoys, 
and  later  a military  and  naval  force  under 
Phokion,  were  sent  to  Euboea.  The  op- 
erations against  Histiaea  were  crowned 
with  complete  success.  Histiaea  was 
freed,  Philistides  was  forced  to  flee  (Steph. 
Byz.  even  states  that  he  was  killed),  and 
the  Macedonians  expelled  from  the  island. 
These  events  took  place  in  the  autumn 
and  winter  of  341-340  B.  C.  Histiaea, 
together  with  the  remainder  of  Euboea, 
became  an  ally  of  Athens  against  Philip, 
and  two  years  later  their  soldiers  fought 
shoulder  to  shoulder  on  the  disastrous 
field  of  Chraeonea.  With  that  decisive 
defeat  Euboea  once  more  came  under  the 
dominion  of  Philip. 

Such  were  the  historical  events,  here  so 
briefly  detailed,  that  not  only  explain  the 
sudden  introduction  of  the  Attic  weight 
and  new  types  into  the  Histiaean  coinage, 


NUMISMATIC  NOTES 


HISTI AEA 

13 

but  also  clearly  show  that  this  probably 
took  place  early  in  340  B.  C.  immediately 
following  the  expulsion  of  Philistides  and 
his  Macedonians.  In  other  words,  we 
must  now  assign  the  Histiaean  octobols 
and  their  accompanying  tetrobols  to  the 
period  of  340-338  B.  C.  The  extreme 
rarity  of  the  larger  denomination  and  the 
comparative  scarcity  of  the  tetrobol  of 
finest  style  make  it  evident  that  their 
issue  was  not  one  of  long  duration.  Their 
Attic  weight  would  also  seem  to  corrobo- 
rate the  new  dating  proposed  here.  Is  it 
not  natural  to  suppose  that  Histiaea  should 
have  adopted  the  weight  standard  of  the 
now  dominant  power  in  Euboea  and  her 
liberator  from  the  Macedonian  yoke? 
Especially  is  such  a procedure  likely  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  a combined  campaign 
against  the  Macedonian  power  was  now 
apparently  imminent. 

Finally,  a study  of  the  new  type  adopted 
by  the  Histiaeans  will,  in  the  writer’s  opin- 
ion, but  add  a further  proof,  if  such  be 
needed,  that  the  new  coinage  of  Attic 
weight  was  inaugurated  as  a result  and  at 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

H 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

the  time  of  the  Athenian  expedition  to 
Histiaea.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  evident 
that  the  type  of  a divinity  seated  upon 
a ship,  or  the  portion  of  a ship,  is  indeed 
an  innovation  on  the  coinages  of  Greece 
proper.  Later,  a similar  motive  was 
chosen  by  Antigonus  Doson  when  he 
placed  upon  his  tetradrachms  the  repre- 
sentation of  Apollo  seated  upon  a ship’s 
prow.  Several  coins  struck  by  the  Mag- 
netes  of  Thessaly  depict  Artemis  seated 
also  upon  a prow;  while  throughout  the 
second  and  first  centuries  B.  C.,  the  Ara- 
dians  placed  the  tyche  of  their  city,  seated 
sometimes  upon  an  entire  galley,  some- 
times only  upon  the  prow,  upon  their 
bronze  coins.  Other  Phoenician  cities  did 
the  same,  but  in  these  cases  the  divinities 
are  always  standing.  One  thing  is  certain, 
namely  that  Histiaea,  of  all  the  cities  of 
Greece,  was  the  first,  by  many  years,  to 
adopt  the  type  of  a divinity  seated  upon 
a ship. 

Only  in  one  other  instance,  in  Cyprus, 
do  we  find  a similar  motive  employed  dur- 
ing the  fourth  century  B.  C.  The  coin 

L 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTIAEA 

15 

here  referred  to  is  the  handsome  stater  of 
an  as  yet  unidentified  ruler,  perhaps  Aris- 
tochus  of  Curium,  which  gives  a very 
beautiful  representation  of  Athene,  hold- 
ing an  aplustre,  and  seated  upon  a ship’s 
prow.  In  view  of  the  close  association 
proposed  above  between  the  Athenian  ex- 
pedition and  +he  adoption  by  the  His- 
tiaeans  of  a similar  motive,  it  is  most  in- 
teresting to  note  that  R.  Kekule  has  called 
attention  to  the  artistic  connection4  be- 
tween the  Cypriote  stater  and  a portion 
of  the  balustrade  of  the  temple  of  Athena- 
Nike  at  Athens.  M.  Babelon  goes  further 
and  makes  the  interesting  suggestion5  that, 
because  of  the  evident  Athenian  origin  of 
its  type,  this  stater  may  have  been  struck 
by  the  Athenian  Aristophanes,  son  cf 
Nikophemus,  who  had  been  active  during 
the  wars  in  Cyprus  against  the  Persians. 
Now  Athene  on  this  coin  holds  an  aplus- 
tre in  her  hand  and  gazes  at  it  atten- 
tively. This  fact  and  the  close  association 
of  the  motive  with  the  design  on  the  Nike 
temple  at  Athens  strongly  suggests  that 
the  stater  itself  commemorates  some  naval 

; 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

1 

i6 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

victory.  Such  an  interpretation  is  entirely 
supported  by  the  type  of  Apollo  seated  on 
a prow  as  chosen  at  a later  period  by  An- 
tigonus  Doson.  Imhoof-Blumer  has  clearly 
shown  that  Antigonus  adopted  this  type 
in  direct  reference  to  his  important  naval 
victory  gained  over  the  Egyptians  off  the 
island  of  Cos  and  near  the  Hieron  of  Apollo 
Triopios  on  the  mainland. 

It  would  seem  entirely  plausible  to  sup- 
pose that  Histiasa  adopted  the  Nymph 
and  stern  type  for  some  similar  reason, 
perhaps  a successful  naval  skirmish — how- 
ever small  this  may  have  been — inciden- 
tal to  the  expulsion  of  Philistides.  To  be 
sure,  our  brief  historical  sources  make  no 
mention  of  any  naval  engagement  in  the 
operations  which  resulted  in  the  liberation 
of  Histiaea.  Nevertheless,  the  mere  ap- 
proach of  the  powerful  Athenian  fleet, 
threatening  to  cut  the  communications  of 
Philistides  and  his  partisans  with  the  only 
true  source  of  their  power  — the  Macedon- 
ian army  and  its  base  in  Thessaly  — 
would  have  all  the  effects  of  a victorious 
naval  battle.  It  was  certainly  the  navai 

1 

i 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AE A 

1 7 

supremacy  that  Athens  at  this  time  en- 
joyed which  enabled  her  to  stem  the  rising 
tide  of  Macedonian  influence  on  the  island 
of  Euboea.  In  view  of  the  Athenian  sea- 
power  it  would  be  surprising  if  the  libera- 
tion of  Histiaea  had  been  accomplished  by 
land  operations  alone,  particularly  as  these 
successful  operations  appear  to  have  been 
of  such  short  duration. 

At  first  glance  we  may  not  seem  en- 
tirely warranted  in  thus  tracing  an  impor- 
tant coin  type  to  an  admittedly  conjectural 
event.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  defi- 
nite indications  would  seem  to  corroborate 
our  theory.  In  the  first  place,  we  had  oc- 
casion to  note  above  that  one  similar  type 
certainly,  and  another  probably,  refers 
directly  to  a naval  victory.  Secondly, 
Histiaea  was  the  first  to  introduce  this 
motive  on  the  coinage  of  Greece  proper. 
Because  of  its  novelty  there  must  have 
been  some  explicit  reason  for  the  type 
chosen ; while  the  presence  of  the  ship’s 
stem  indicates  plainly  that  something 
connected  with  the  sea  must  have  played 
an  important  part  in  the  choice.  Finally, 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

i8 

1 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

the  employment  of  the  stern,  instead  of  the 
prow,  would  seem  to  give  us  a definite  clue 
to  the  reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  type. 
It  was  evidently  adopted  for  the  express 
purpose  of  displaying  the  stylis,6  at  which 
the  Nymph  Histiasa  gazes  with  such  man- 
ifest surprise  and  delight.  This  makes  the 
stylis  unquestionably  the  central  point  of 
interest  around  which  revolves  the  entire 
design.  The  Nymph  herself,  by  her  very 
attitude,  directs  the  onlooker’s  eye  to  the 
stylis  upon  which  we  have  found  engraved 
the  word  A 0 A (N  A).  This,  then,  must 
represent  the  key  to  the  entire  problem. 

Now  M.  Svoronos  in  his  most  interest- 
ing and  important  article  on  the  origin, 
meaning,  and  use  of  the  stylis  has  clearly 
demonstrated  that  it  was  originally  the 
palladium,  the  tutelary  divinity  of  the  ves- 
sel itself.  For  this  reason  it  was  placed 
upon  the  most  vital  portion  of  the  ship, 
the  stern,  where  was  to  be  found,  to  use 
his  own  words,  “ le  gouvernail  et  le  timo- 
nier,  la  force  et  Fame  du  navire,  dont  de- 
pend tout  mouvement  et  le  sort  meme  de 
la  navigation.”  Furthermore,  the  name 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AEA 

19 

of  the  god  was  often  inscribed  upon  the 
stylis,  as  it  was  not  always  easy  to  recog- 
nize by  the  shape  of  the  stylis  alone,  the 
god  it  was  intended  to  represent.  In  proof 
of  this  M.  Svoronos  calls  attention  to  a 
Greek  vase  of  the  fourth  century  B.  C., 
found  near  Santa  Maria  di  Capua,  upon 
which  is  represented  a ship’s  stern  and  the 
stylis.  Upon  the  cross-bar  of  the  stylis  is 
engraved  ZEY^  ^QTHP.  M.  Svoronos 
further  says  : “ Dans  les  armees  de  terre, 
ou  rarement  etait  possible  de  presenter 
subitement,  d’un  point  visible  a tous,  des 
idoles  ou  symboles,  on  donnait  les  diffe- 
rents  ordres,  surtout  le  mot  d’ordre  de  la 
bataille,  par  des  mots,  qui  devaient  rester 
secrets.  Ces  mots,  appeles  aussi  awd^iiaTa, 
n’etaient  autre  que  les  noms  des  dieux  dont 
on  invoqnait  la  presence  et  la  protection  a 
cette  heure  critique.  Sur  une  de  nos 
stylides-idoles  nous  avons  vu  le  nom  de 
Zei>s  Or  ces  deux  mots  sont  ceux 

que  nous  trouvons  le  plus  sou  vent  comme 
des  mots  d’ordre  des  armees  sur  terre.” 
He  goes  on  to  give  numerous  Greek  watch- 
words and  battlecries  that  have  come 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

20 

0CT0B0LS  OF 

down  to  us,  among  which  should  be  no- 
ticed particularly : ’a d^va  IlaXXds,  and 
’A drjvala.  Now,  it  is  evident  from  the  ar- 
guments and  proofs  brought  together  by 
M.  Svoronos  that  the  stylis  was  to  be  to 
the  single  ship  or  the  entire  squadron  what 
the  standard  was  to  an  army.  It  was, 
namely,  the  oriflamme,  the  palladium,  the 
symbol  of  the  divinity,  presiding  over  the 
destinies  of  its  proteges  and  leading  them 
to  certain  victory.  Moreover,  the  name 
of  the  protecting  deity  was  sometimes  in- 
scribed upon  a tablet  attached  to  the  shaft 
of  the  stylis.  Thus,  we  conclude  that  the 
word  A0A(N  A),  inscribed  upon  the  cross- 
bar of  our  stylis,  unmistakeably  indicates 
under  whose  mighty  guidance  the  events 
took  place,  events  of  such  importance  to 
Histiasa  that  led  to  the  adoption  of  a new 
weight  standard  and  a new  design  for  her 
coinage.  But  certainly  no  event  in  the 
fourth  century  history  of  that  city  would 
better  accord  with  these  new  types  than 
her  liberation,  by  the  help  of  Athens,  from 
the  tyranny. of  Philistides  and  his  Mace- 
donian soldiery.  Was  not  Athene  the  tute- 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AE A 

21 

lary  goddess  of  the  great  city  which  had 
sent  her  best  general,  Phokion,  to  lead  her 
own  forces  and  those  of  the  Athenian  sym- 
pathizers recently  driven  from  Histiaea  ? 
Furthermore,  was  there  not  a persistent 
tradition,  a tradition  no  doubt  invoked  by 
all  Athenians  and  their  Histiaean  friends, 
that  the  Euboean  city  had  once  been 
founded  by  emigrants  from  the  Attic 
deme  of  Histiaea  (Strabo  X)  ? Soon  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  Persians  from  Greece, 
Histiaea  became  subject  to  Athens,  and  in 
445  B.  C.  Pericles  settled  some  two  thou- 
sand Kleruchoi  in  the  city.  Thuoidides 
also  states  that  when  Euboea  revolted  in 
41 1 B.  C.,  the  only  city  in  all  the  island 
that  remained  faithful  to  Athens  was  His- 
tiaea. Thus,  there  had  evidently  been  for 
a long  time  a strong  tradition  of  attach- 
ment to  Athens,  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
under  the  Macedonian  tyranny  the  de- 
cisive intervention  of  Athene,  to  save  what 
was  but  her  own,  was  eagerly  prayed  for. 
Little  wonder  then,  that  when  this  was 
finally  accomplished,  the  graceful  figure  of 
Histiaea’s  eponymous  Nymph,  seated  upon 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

22 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

the  ship’s  stern,  reads  with  such  rapt  at- 
tention and  manifest  delight  the  inspiring 
battle  cry  of  Athene  the  Saviour.  For  we 
may  surmise  that  the  full  expression  may 
well  have  been  ’ Adava  I^wT^pa,  but  the  nec- 
essarily small  size  of  our  stylis  allowed  the 
engraver  to  give  but  the  first  word. 

The  present  is  an  excellent  opportunity 
to  publish,  evidently  for  the  first  time, 
what  appears  to  be  an  obol,  Plate  I,  5,  be- 
longing to  the  same  series.  Hitherto,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able  to 
discover,  only  octobols  and  tetrobols  of 
the  fine  style  group  of  coins  bearing  the 
seated  Nymph  type  have  been  known. 
Neither  Head  in  the  British  Museum  Cat- 
alogue and  the  Historia  Numorum  (both 
first  and  second  editions),  nor  M.  Babelon 
in  his  Traite  2,  vol.  Ill,  assign  any  other 
denomination  in  silver  than  the  two 
already  mentioned,  to  this  particular 
group.  Two  specimens  of  the  obol  came 
into  the  writer’s  possession  some  years 
ago.  The  coin  bears  on  its  obverse  a fine 
head  of  the  Nymph,  identical  in  style  and 
details  with  that  on  the  octobols  (Plate  I, 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AE A 

23 

2 and  3)  and  the  tetrobol  (Plate  I,  4). 
Its  reverse  presents  the  same  type  of  the 
Nymph  Histiasa  seated  to  right  upon  a 
ship’s  stern.  Here,  too,  she  gazes  intently 
at  the  stylis  before  her,  while  the  attitude 
of  her  left  hand  apparently  expresses  the 
same  feelings  of  pleasure  and  surprise  that 
M.  Svoronos7  first  noticed  on  the  tetrobol. 
The  better  preserved  of  the  two  specimens 
in  the  author’s  collection  weighs  grammes 
0.77,  the  other  grammes  0.75,  showing 
that  they  are  obols  of  the  Attic  system. 
The  close  association  of  these  obols  with 
the  tetrobol,  Plate  I,  4,  is  proved  both  by 
their  absolute  identity  of  style  and  by  the 
presence,  behind  the  Nymph,  of  the  same 
magistrate’s  symbol,  a Bunch  of  Grapes. 
Needless  to  say  these  new  coins  are  far  too 
small  to  bear  any  inscription  on  the  cross- 
bar of  the  stylis. 

The  foregoing  study  apparently  leads  us 
to  assign  to  the  years  340-338  B.  C.  the 
compact  little  group  of  Attic  octobols,  tet- 
robols,  and  obols  characterized  by  their 
uniformly  fine  style  and  their  reverse  type 
of  the  eponymous  Nymph  of  Histiasa 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

24 

OCTOBOLS  OF 

seated  on  a galley’s  stern.  In  this  series 
we  must  recognize  something  in  the  nature 
of  a commemorative  issue,  struck  in  the 
first  flush  of  the  city’s  triumphant  libera- 
tion, with  Athenian  aid,  from  Macedonian 
overlordship.  In  view  of  the  unexpected 
unanimity  of  the  numismatic,  archaeologi- 
cal, and  historical  evidence  it  has  been 
possible  to  present,  is  it  too  presumptuous 
to  believe  that  the  new  dating  here  pro- 
posed must  eventually  be  accepted  ? 

NUMISMATIC  NOTES 

HISTI AEA 

25 

NOTES  ' 

1 The  somewhat  lighter  weight  of  the  new 
octobol,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  Paris  spec- 
imen, is  no  doubt  due  to  two  slight  abrasions  it 
has  suffered,  the  one  on  the  obverse  just  over 
the  Nymph’s  ear,  the  other  on  the  reverse  which 
has  obliterated  the  Nymph’s  right  breast. 

2 There  can  be  no  possible  doubt  that  this  coin 
was  in  the  find.  The  peculiar  oxidation  with 
which  it  is  covered  is  shared  by  all  its  companion 
pieces  and  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  action  of  sea 
water  on  them.  Furthermore,  it  is  definitely 
entered  on  the  books  of  the  Museum  as  having 
been  received  along  with  the  rest,  a statement 
there  is  no  reason  to  question. 

3 See  E.  Curtius,  Griechische  Geschichte,  III, 
677,  and  Grote,  History  of  Greece,  XI,  621  ff. 

4 Die  Reliefs  an  der  Balustrade  der  Athena- 
Nike  (1881),  pp.  1 and  5. 

5 This  suggestion  is  supported  by  Mr.  Hill  in 
the  British  Museum  Catalogue  Cyprus  introd. 
p.  xliii.  and  xliv. 

6 M.  Svoronos,  Jour.  Int.  d' Arch,  et  Num. 
vol.  XVI,  1914,  p.  81  ff.,  shows  that  the  stylis 
was  nearly  always  at  the  stern  instead  of  the 
prow  of  the  ship. 

7 Jour.  Int.  d' Arch,  et  Num.,  Vol.  XVI,  1914, 
p.  91. 

AND  MONOGRAPHS 

HISTIAEA 


Plate  I 


4 


HIST  IAEA 


Plate  II 


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